Share

IGLS, Austria (AP) — Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken led a German sweep of the podium at the doubles race of the luge world championships on Saturday, hours after fellow German Tatjana Huefner won the women's singles title.

Eggert and Benecken posted a track record of 39.468 seconds in the first run and held on to their lead to beat Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt by 0.206, and Robin Geueke and David Gamm by 0.385.

Austrians Peter Penz and Georg Fischler were the best non-German finishers in fourth.

It was the first world title for Eggert and Benecken, who had won silver three times before. They have won seven of nine races in the luge World Cup season.

Earlier, Huefner won the women's singles race for her fifth career individual gold medal, and first in five years. Leading after the first run, Huefner posted the second-fastest time in the final run to beat Erin Hamlin of the United States by 0.213, and Kimberley McRae of Canada by 0.240. Hamlin had won the gold medal in Friday's sprint event.

Olympic and defending world champion Natalie Geisenberger was only 17th before setting a track record of 39.822 seconds in the final run to finish sixth, 0.294 behind her German teammate.

Huefner has won eight medals at world championships and three at Olympics, including gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The worlds conclude with the men's singles race and a team relay on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Relatives of Jesse Owens and America's 17 other black athletes from the 1936 Olympics were welcomed to the White House on Thursday by President Barack Obama for the acknowledgement they didn't receive along with their white counterparts 80 years ago.

Along with the relatives of the 1936 African-American Olympians, gloved-fist protesters Tommie Smith and John Carlos and members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams met the president and first lady Michelle Obama. Obama congratulated the Rio athletes, thanked Smith and Carlos for waking up Americans in 1968 and praised 1936 Olympians who made a statement in front of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.

TOKYO (AP) — An expert panel set up by Tokyo's newly elected governor says the price tag of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could exceed $30 billion unless drastic cost-cutting measures are taken. That's more than a four-fold increase from the initial estimate at the time Tokyo was awarded the games in 2013.